Chef de cave Frédéric Panaïotis arrived at Ruinart for his first vintage in 2007, a vintage full of "weather challenges" for Pinot Noir, there is no doubt Fred truly mastered it with this champagne which is 80% Chardonnay and the remainder is 20% Pinot Noir added as red wine.

The rosé prestige cuvée of Champagne Ruinart, Dom Ruinart Rosé is a Grand Cru only blend of Dom Ruinart Chardonnay topped off with 15-20% red wine from the Montagne de Reims. Since the first vintage in 1966, this cuvée is consistently ranked amongst the greatest rosés on the market and this 2002 expression is one of the absolute best. The Pinot Noir red wine is sourced from the Grand Cru villages of Sillery and Verzenay and macerated on the skins for nine days before pressing, extracting the pink colour and soft fruit tannins. Blending this red wine into the assemblage gives a rosé with a vibrant, deep coral colour.

Weather: 2007 is an extraordinary vintage and one of the very few in Champagne when the harvest began in August. After a sunny and very warm spring, the months of June, July and August brought rather gloomy weather and heavy rainfall. And yet, these cool temperatures did nothing to counteract the vineyard’s early and rapid progress, with the grapes quickly reaching full ripeness.

Technical Information:
Vineyards: 100% Grand Cru - Chardonnay: 80% Côte des Blancs: Avize, Le Mesnil-sur-Oger, Oger, Chouilly and Montagne de Reims: Sillery, Verzenay | Pinot Noir: 20% vinified as red wine from a Grand Cru vineyard in Aÿ.
Grape Varieties: 80% Chardonnay & 20% Pinot Noir as red wine
Ageing: 10 years on the lees
Disgorged: February 2018
Dosage: 5 g/l
Drink: Now to 2032+

Tasting Note: The evolving colour has copper hues and the complex nose also shows fine, maturing Pinot notes. Alongside the usual apricot and spice aromas, the wine comes with a stylish gunpowdery toastiness, vanilla and layered melange of citrus fruit ranging from candied mandarin to orange peel. On the light-weight and beautifully energetic palate the Chardonnay body is evident and the wine comes across as a particularly elegant Dom Ruinart Rosé. - Tasting note by Essi Avellan MW

Although not the oldest wine estate in the region, Ruinart holds the title of the oldest established Champagne House. Dom Thierry Ruinart, friend and confidant of Benedictine monk Dom Pérignon, foretold that the new "wine with bubbles" being developed in his native region of Champagne was destined for a bright future and encouraged his nephew Nicolas Ruinart to enter the trade. When Louis XV declared that champagne could henceforth be sold in bottles instead of barrels, Nicolas heeded his uncle's advice and founded Champagne Ruinart in 1729.

Famed for their affinity for the white-grape variety, Chardonnay dominates the blend in all of Ruinart's finest cuvées, even their prestige rosé. Favouring the reductive style, they use a pneumatic press to guard the juice against oxidation and deploy nitrogen gas to protect the wine at every production stage. They are also adverse to oak and vinify all of their wines in stainless-steel tanks. Cosmopolitan and savvy, Ruinart produce approachable, muscular and vinous champagnes that deserve recognition beyond the trade industry within which they are currently most well-known.

The longest-established Champagne house of all, Ruinart has an affinity with chardonnay's freshness, finesse and elegance and all of its finest cuvées lead with this variety, even its prestige rosé. ""We hate oxygen!"" declares Frederic Panaïotis, Chef de Cave; Ruinart use a pneumatic press to guard the juice against oxidation and nitrogen gas to protect the wine at every production stage. They are also adverse to oak; vinification only takes place in stainless steel. This meticulous attention to detail along with the distinctive rounded bottles, give Ruinart its well-deserved reputation. Ruinart's Crayeres were dug by hand - the deepest measuring 38 meters in height beneath the vault - and their numerous tunnels criss-cross over a length of more than eight kilometres.

Cellar Master: Frédéric Panaïotis
Winery Location: Reims | Champagne, France
Champagne Region: Montagne de Reims
Annual Production (bottles): Undisclosed